What is Utilitarianism?
This ideology supports that the best action is that which brings about the best increase in utility. Utility is broadly defined as benefit, and is generally considered on a broad scale, often including wider society, and not just the patient in question. This is, in fact, a form of consequentialism.
Example: you have a sum of money, and can either fund one patient with a rare disease and very expensive treatment, or five patients with a very common and easy-to-treat disease. Utilitarian ethics dictates that treating the five patients is morally superior as a greater overall benefit is achieved.
No comments:
Post a Comment